WHAT TO TAKE TO AUSTRALIA ADVICE TO THE EMIGRANT TAKEN FROM 'HOUSEHOLD NEWS' - 1852.
The common practice of an intending emigrant is to discard all he has, and set out with a brand new stock of everything. The reverse is the better plan. Begin by mustering what you have got and see how much will do. A single man should be in light marching order and should endeavour to take no more clothes than he could, at a pinch, make up in a bundle and carry, groaning on his back for a mile. A family should take no cumbrous furniture, no pianos, no mangles, unless proceeding to settle near friends in a sea port of the colonies where labour has become too dear to pay for making chairs and tables. A chair that folds flat may be useful for 'mamma,' so may a light metal bedstead, knives and forks, pewter plates, and teapots will be useful on the voyage, and in town or bush. It is well for a family party to have just enough to enable them to enter the first suitable house in Melbourne or Sydney, and commence housekeeping at once, with a trunk for a seat and a tea chest for a table. On board ship any old trousers, if warm or light according to the weather will do. In the colonies good strong wellington boots of the best materials and not too tight. Waterproof boots are a mistake, as the water comes in at the top and stays to be let out by a hole. Both woollen and cotton stockings are needed. Hats can be bought in the colonies cheap, and two caps, one to be blown away, will be sufficient for the voyage. Each passenger is also expected to provide a mattress three feet by six feet for a double bed, and the following articles:
Knife and fork, table and tea spoons, metal plate, hook pot, drinking mug, water can, washing basin, cabbage nets, one scrubbing brush, half gallon sand, bath brick, two sheets of sandpaper, hammer, tacks, two coarse canvass sheets, leather straps, with buckles to secure the beds to the deck when required to be aired.
As the saying goes "everything but the kitchen sink!"
Stan
